Treasure in Heaven

“Those who want to become rich,” St. Paul writes, “fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. “For the love of money,” he continues, “is the root of all evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.” (1 Timothy 6:9-11)

Make no mistake, when St. Paul attacks the love of money, he is attacking money—point blank—because everyone knows (even though most will never admit) that everyone loves money.

As an alternative to wealth, Paul proposes the pursuit of the righteousness that comes from God, which Matthew explains, is the “treasure in heaven.” To gain this treasure, the one who labors must attribute all credit for their deeds to the Father of Jesus and take no credit from anyone other than him. This is the only wise choice, because—according to both Paul and Matthew—since the Heavenly Father does not die, the hope of credit from him is the only worthwhile investment.

“For,” St. Paul explains, “We have brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” (1 Timothy 6:7)

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1 thought on “Treasure in Heaven”

Interesting: in both N.T. Wright’s and David Bentley Hart’s New Testament translations, we have for Matthew 6.16 “When you fast, don’t be gloomy like the PLAY-ACTORS. (‘gloomy,’ Wright; ‘sullen,’ Hart).”